If I try to explain the events that took place this past weekend at the CrossFit Southwest Regional’s in Colorado and I use words like amazing, unbelievable and epic none of them will do the justice of the storyline that unfolded over the course of 3 days. The weekend was filled with peaks and valleys. Our team floated up and down the scoring chart and at the end of it all stood tall with an 11th place finish out of 30 teams in the 2nd hardest region in the world. It wasn’t easy and it took every single ounce of strength, energy and teamwork to make it through the cuts and move on to the 6th and final event of the competition and this is how we got there.

Sunday morning…. 7am the ladies (Jen, Mel and Klubo) and I headed out of the house for the 8am start of event 5 the snatch ladder. The drive was quiet we had fallen to 16th place after Saturdays performance and our goal of making it to the finals was disappearing right in front of our eyes. We needed a monster score just to make it and this was our worst workout in practice the weeks before. The starting weight for women was #105 and would go up #10 each lift. All 3 women would have 50 seconds total to successfully snatch the weight in order to move on to the next load. The total of each athletes snatch combined would be our score and if Jen missed it would be zero. #105 was also Jen’s max and had only completed it a few times at home, not to mention her body weight. As they started warming up I pulled Jen aside and told her to “believe, this is all mental and she is stronger than she knows” she looked at me and said “I won’t let you down”. After a few barbell snatches they lined up team by team moving through the ladder. Almost every team missed including Chris Spealers sister. The game plan was to have Jen go 1st incased she missed so that she could get another chance. The announcer shouted 3.2.1 rotate and Jen stepped up to the bar, set up tight and pulled. No rep the judge yelled as the bar floated out in front of Jen’s head. Then Mel stepped up and stuck a power snatch then Klubo stepped up and made it look like a pvc… so light. With 20 seconds left Jen stepped back up to the bar, set up in a deep squat and pulled…past her knees…past her hips and BAM triple extension had dropped completely under the bar to snatch #105 and move the team forward. Like Kobe or Jordan dribbling down the lane with seconds left on the clock to win the game Jen pulled up and hit the clutch jumper moving the entire team to #115 and she did not disappoint.

I really can’t remember what happened next I was so excited but I remember the sound of the crowd. It was a very strange sound like people were shocked or even amazed it sounded more like people talking loudly like “what was that, who is that” as I repositioned myself on the other side where the heavier bars were I realized it was Klubo shocking the world with these effortless lifts. #120…clear #125…clear. Now the crowd noise was changing and was turning into loud cheers. #130…clear and now loud roars. Klubo had been the 1st female athlete to make it down the line and she made it look so effortless. #135 was next and it was the 1st time she looked well inside her element. I actually think she started dancing as the clock clicked down 3.2.1 rotate. She stuck it and the entire stadium went nuts. “Where you at Scottsdale” the announcer shouted. We all went crazy and Klubo stepped up to the bar for her final lift where she barely missed #140. The ladies had set the bar…literally with a #345 total. Next up the boys and we were not going to let anyone down especially the ladies.

Chris, Brad and I started warming up and our strategy was similar except in reverse order so that I would have more time to lift especially when we hit my max which was #185 although I missed it in the warm up. We lined up and started moving through the bars. #155/165/175/185 even #195 which was a P.R (personal record) for me. When we got to #205 Chris missed the lift which was shocking because he was our best lifter and were prospecting at least #225. Brad stepped up and power snatched #205 and quickly I decided to pull the lift up to my knees missing on purpose so that Chris could get another shot at a fairly light lift for him. He pulled no problem and now it was my turn with 30x seconds left on the clock. I stepped in, let out a few bursts of fire and……………..

I PRd my snatch by #20 Brad moved up to #215 and successfully cleared it barely missing #225. We did our part and now it was time for the kid to prove his strength. Remember Chris missed at #205 and I think it might have helped him settle. He cleared #225 which was his previous record… cleared #235 which was a PR and now stepped up to #245 clearing it almost as efficiently as the previous lift. As he stepped up to #255 the crowd, Brad and I were going ape $#iT. 3.2.1 rotate Chris stepped up to the load and pulled it well above his head, started to stand up with it and just missed actually pulling it over and behind his head. We finished with a #665 mens total and a #1010 overall total to give us 5th place in the workout and move us up to 12th place overall securing our spot in the last and final workout of the 2012 Regional’s.

03/26/2015 7:00 PM

At SICFIT Scottsdale, we believe in testable, measurable fitness. If we cannot track our progress towards our goals – whether they are losing weight, getting stronger, toning up, feeling healthier, or all of the above – if we have no metric to gauge them by?

This is why March 26th at 7 pm, SICFIT Scottsdale is hosting our first Level 1 Fitness Test of the year! Whether you think you are ready to take the test or not, we encourage you to come out and use it as data to measure where you are at, see how far you’ve come, and where you need improvement.

Join us for the L1 test and use your results to measure your fitness progress for the rest of the year!